Dead Man Walking (1995)

[whitehall]

Based on a true story. A condemned Louisiana convict calls on an innocent Catholic Nun to be his spiritual adviser. It's not hard to see that the Nun (Susan Sarandon) becomes another victim of the slick talking murder rapist convict (Sean Penn) and becomes a political advocate against the death penalty. Interestingly R. Lee Ermey who is famous for his role as the Marine Corps D.I. in FMJ plays a convincing role as the parent of one of the slain victims.

 

[Marion Morrison]

I've seen this movie.

 

[skye]

I would comment on this

but since Susan Sarandon is such a virulent progressive socialist

I won't...

do not like what she has become.....total moron

 

[Marion Morrison]

I would comment on this

but since Susan Sarandon is such a virulent progressive socialist

I won't...

do not like what she has become.....total moron

I think she's pretty. Remember that lawyer show?

 

[cnm]

Easy to see no one's actually read the nun Prejeanne's book but depend on a Hollywood version of it to educate themselves, then complain about it.

'Murica!

 

[skye]

I would comment on this

but since Susan Sarandon is such a virulent progressive socialist

I won't...

do not like what she has become.....total moron

I think she's pretty. Remember that lawyer show?

Yes. she was very very cute.... very pretty ...way back then

 

[cnm]

Just watched the execution scene on Youtube. Prejean (corrected spelling)wouldn't recognise it.

 

[whitehall]

The best thing about the movie is that you know the Penn character will be executed despite the Serandon character's efforts. Picking up the gurney with the condemned guy's arms out (like a Cross?) was a bit over done and I doubt if the condemned can see the witnesses. Otherwise I thought the execution was done pretty well. I don't know if you can put it down as irony but the prison Chaplain was played by Scott Wilson. Wilson played the condemned prisoner in the movie In Cold Blood.

 

[2aguy]

The best thing about the movie is that you know the Penn character will be executed despite the Serandon character's efforts. Picking up the gurney with the condemned guy's arms out (like a Cross?) was a bit over done and I doubt if the condemned can see the witnesses. Otherwise I thought the execution was done pretty well. I don't know if you can put it down as irony but the prison Chaplain was played by Scott Wilson. Wilson played the condemned prisoner in the movie In Cold Blood.

And keep in mind, the entire movie he lies about being innocent...until the end.... this is the problem for people who support the death penalty...too many people are controlled by what they see in front of them, not what they actually think. Here you have a guy, alone, isolated, going to be killed, and every normal person who sees that guy puts themselves in that position....without having murdered anyone, of course. So they sympathize with the killers plight....now. It takes actual thought to put yourself at the time of the rape and murder, to understand the fear, the terror, the agony of the two victims of this killer and his partner....two lives destroyed, that you don't see because they are long buried and forgotten....

 

[whitehall]

To his credit Sean Penn played a non sympathetic character and Serandon played a complicated character who was clearly infatuated with a condemned killer. The movie wasn't as much a anti-death penalty tirade as it was an illustration of a doomed relationship between two people who were on opposite sides of society and the law. The sad part was that the Catholic Nun appeared to have more empathy for an unrepentant condemned man who committed a horrific crime than she did for the families of the victims of the crime who had to live with the tragedy for the rest of their lives.